Nico Pitney reported earlier that "Host quits Iran's Press TV over 'bias' after election.
"It is called Press TV, is funded by the Iranian regime, and opponents
say that from its nondescript offices off Hanger Lane in northwest
London the 24-hour news station is beaming pro-Tehran propaganda into
homes across Britain. Nick Ferrari, a leading British radio presenter, quit his show on the station yesterday in protest
at the regime crushing dissent after the Iranian elections, but Press
TV continues to employ plenty of other Britons -- including MPs and
Cherie Blair's sister."

Iason Athanasiadis, a Greek journalist based in Istanbul, is
being held by the Iranian authorities. He was arrested 17 June 2009.
The arrest seems particularly perverse since Iason, on assignment for
the Washington Times and GlobalPost, is a long time Iran-hand,
Farsi-speaker, and Iran-lover, who spent 2 years at Tehran University.
Efforts to secure his release are being managed by the Greek Foreign
MInistry, and the Greek embassy in Tehran.

12:26
am Tuesday morning: IHRDC Calls on the World to Prevent Iran from
Executing Prisoners Arrested in Connection with the June 12
Presidential Election (hat tip Paul)

June 29, 2009
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT – Today, ILNA, an official Iranian news outlet,
announced the creation of a special commission to “determine the fate
of recent arrestees.” If history is any barometer, the creation of this
commission and the men appointed to it, are ominous signs that the
regime intends to severely punish, and execute, demonstrators and other
human rights activists. The world cannot stand by and watch.

Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of the Judiciary who is appointed by the
Supreme Leader, directed that members of the commission will include
Hojatoleslam Dorri Najafabadi (Iran’s General Prosecutor), Ibrahim
Ra’isi (Deputy Judiciary Chief), and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (Head of
the General Inspection Organization). He also directed the commission
to coordinate its activities with the Prosecutor of Tehran, Saeed
Mortazavi.

This announcement followed closely on the heels of Friday’s sermon by
senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami in which he stated that
demonstrators are muharib, a status that makes them subject to the most
severe punishment, including execution. The sermon and creation of the
commission follow a familiar deadly pattern, particularly given the men
involved.

Mortazavi has been implicated in the death of photo-journalist
Zahrah Kazemi, and the arrests and torture of other journalists and
bloggers. Two of the named commissioners, Pour-Mohammadi and Ra’isi,
were members of special commissions that were created in July 1988 on
the orders of the then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Those
commissions, known as Death Commissions, sent thousands of already
sentenced political prisoners throughout Iran to their deaths based
solely on their responses to a few questions. The Iranian government
secretly executed the prisoners and has never acknowledged that they
took place. To this day, the exact numbers and identities of those
executed remain unknown.

In a pattern eerily similar to today, as the executions were beginning
in 1988, the then-Chief Justice Musavi Ardebili delivered a sermon
claiming that “[t]he people say they should all be executed without
exceptions.”

Given this history involving many of the same powerful men, the
creation of special commissions coupled with a call for executions, are
clear signs that Iran intends to severely punish, and execute,
demonstrators and other human rights activists. The IHRDC calls on the
United Nations to prevent this from happening.

Ever since the revolution and especially after the hostage crisis,
the western media, unconsciously perhaps, pictured Iran as a hostile,
threatening country with uncivilized people. The western media were not
alone in this; they had an accomplice in the Iranian government, who
embraced this villain-ized picture of Iran. To them, the more alienated
the world was from the true Iran, the less they cared about what goes
on in the country. In fact, it was not until its secret nuclear
facilities were discovered that western governments took a real
interest in Iran.

I remember September 11, 2001. I remember watching TV all day
worried and sad. I remember holding candlelight vigils with my friends
for the victims. Then George W. Bush went on to declare us as one of
the “Axis of Evil.” I remember asking myself, “Why?” Not a single one
of the terrorists was Iranian, and I wondered why he didn’t bother to
make a distinction between the government and the people. In fact, in
all of the Middle East I don’t think there is a more pro-American
nation than Iran, but no one made such a distinction. Consequently, the
Iranian people were viewed with an aura of suspicion in every airport
and embassy around the world for the rest of the Bush administration.

But all of that unfounded negative stereotyping came to an end when,
in the aftermath of the elections, the nation stood up to the
manipulative authorities and separated its account from that of the
government. We shattered the stereotype with the amateur photos and
videos taken with our own mobile phones. We captured the true picture
of the Iranian nation and relayed it to the world, a picture of a young
and highly educated nation yearning to be free.

Now I must tell the people of the world: Thank you! To the western
media: Thank you for believing in us and in our cause. To the drinkers
in the pubs of London: Thank you for supporting us and for lending us
your voice.

The workers of the Khodro automobile company in Iran today issued the following declaration (translated for The Field from the original Farsi by Iraj Omidvar):
We declare our solidarity with the movement of the people of Iran.

Autoworker, Fellow Laborers (Laborer Friends): What we witness today, is an insult to the intelligence of the people, and disregard for their votes, the trampling of the principles of the Constitution by the government. It is our duty to join this people's movement.

We the workers of Iran Khodro, Thursday 28/3/88 in each working shift will stop working for half an hour to protest the suppression of students, workers, women, and the Constitution and declare our solidarity with the movement of the people of Iran. The morning and afternoon shifts from 10 to 10:30. The night shift from 3 to 3:30.

Nico Pitney reported earlier that "Host quits Iran's Press TV over 'bias' after election.
"It is called Press TV, is funded by the Iranian regime, and opponents
say that from its nondescript offices off Hanger Lane in northwest
London the 24-hour news station is beaming pro-Tehran propaganda into
homes across Britain. Nick Ferrari, a leading British radio presenter, quit his show on the station yesterday in protest
at the regime crushing dissent after the Iranian elections, but Press
TV continues to employ plenty of other Britons -- including MPs and
Cherie Blair's sister."

Iason Athanasiadis, a Greek journalist based in Istanbul, is
being held by the Iranian authorities. He was arrested 17 June 2009.
The arrest seems particularly perverse since Iason, on assignment for
the Washington Times and GlobalPost, is a long time Iran-hand,
Farsi-speaker, and Iran-lover, who spent 2 years at Tehran University.
Efforts to secure his release are being managed by the Greek Foreign
MInistry, and the Greek embassy in Tehran.

12:26
am Tuesday morning: IHRDC Calls on the World to Prevent Iran from
Executing Prisoners Arrested in Connection with the June 12
Presidential Election (hat tip Paul)

June 29, 2009
NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT – Today, ILNA, an official Iranian news outlet,
announced the creation of a special commission to “determine the fate
of recent arrestees.” If history is any barometer, the creation of this
commission and the men appointed to it, are ominous signs that the
regime intends to severely punish, and execute, demonstrators and other
human rights activists. The world cannot stand by and watch.

Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Head of the Judiciary who is appointed by the
Supreme Leader, directed that members of the commission will include
Hojatoleslam Dorri Najafabadi (Iran’s General Prosecutor), Ibrahim
Ra’isi (Deputy Judiciary Chief), and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (Head of
the General Inspection Organization). He also directed the commission
to coordinate its activities with the Prosecutor of Tehran, Saeed
Mortazavi.

This announcement followed closely on the heels of Friday’s sermon by
senior cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami in which he stated that
demonstrators are muharib, a status that makes them subject to the most
severe punishment, including execution. The sermon and creation of the
commission follow a familiar deadly pattern, particularly given the men
involved.

Mortazavi has been implicated in the death of photo-journalist
Zahrah Kazemi, and the arrests and torture of other journalists and
bloggers. Two of the named commissioners, Pour-Mohammadi and Ra’isi,
were members of special commissions that were created in July 1988 on
the orders of the then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Those
commissions, known as Death Commissions, sent thousands of already
sentenced political prisoners throughout Iran to their deaths based
solely on their responses to a few questions. The Iranian government
secretly executed the prisoners and has never acknowledged that they
took place. To this day, the exact numbers and identities of those
executed remain unknown.

In a pattern eerily similar to today, as the executions were beginning
in 1988, the then-Chief Justice Musavi Ardebili delivered a sermon
claiming that “[t]he people say they should all be executed without
exceptions.”

Given this history involving many of the same powerful men, the
creation of special commissions coupled with a call for executions, are
clear signs that Iran intends to severely punish, and execute,
demonstrators and other human rights activists. The IHRDC calls on the
United Nations to prevent this from happening.

Ever since the revolution and especially after the hostage crisis,
the western media, unconsciously perhaps, pictured Iran as a hostile,
threatening country with uncivilized people. The western media were not
alone in this; they had an accomplice in the Iranian government, who
embraced this villain-ized picture of Iran. To them, the more alienated
the world was from the true Iran, the less they cared about what goes
on in the country. In fact, it was not until its secret nuclear
facilities were discovered that western governments took a real
interest in Iran.

I remember September 11, 2001. I remember watching TV all day
worried and sad. I remember holding candlelight vigils with my friends
for the victims. Then George W. Bush went on to declare us as one of
the “Axis of Evil.” I remember asking myself, “Why?” Not a single one
of the terrorists was Iranian, and I wondered why he didn’t bother to
make a distinction between the government and the people. In fact, in
all of the Middle East I don’t think there is a more pro-American
nation than Iran, but no one made such a distinction. Consequently, the
Iranian people were viewed with an aura of suspicion in every airport
and embassy around the world for the rest of the Bush administration.

But all of that unfounded negative stereotyping came to an end when,
in the aftermath of the elections, the nation stood up to the
manipulative authorities and separated its account from that of the
government. We shattered the stereotype with the amateur photos and
videos taken with our own mobile phones. We captured the true picture
of the Iranian nation and relayed it to the world, a picture of a young
and highly educated nation yearning to be free.

Now I must tell the people of the world: Thank you! To the western
media: Thank you for believing in us and in our cause. To the drinkers
in the pubs of London: Thank you for supporting us and for lending us
your voice.

The workers of the Khodro automobile company in Iran today issued the following declaration (translated for The Field from the original Farsi by Iraj Omidvar):
We declare our solidarity with the movement of the people of Iran.

Autoworker, Fellow Laborers (Laborer Friends): What we witness today, is an insult to the intelligence of the people, and disregard for their votes, the trampling of the principles of the Constitution by the government. It is our duty to join this people's movement.

We the workers of Iran Khodro, Thursday 28/3/88 in each working shift will stop working for half an hour to protest the suppression of students, workers, women, and the Constitution and declare our solidarity with the movement of the people of Iran. The morning and afternoon shifts from 10 to 10:30. The night shift from 3 to 3:30.